Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP)
An SWP is a facility provided by mutual fund AMCs that allows investors to redeem a specified amount from their holdings at regular intervals — monthly, quarterly, or as configured. On each withdrawal date, the requisite number of units is redeemed at the prevailing NAV and the proceeds are credited to the investor's bank account.
How SWP Is Calculated
Units Redeemed = SWP Amount / NAV on withdrawal date
As NAV fluctuates, the number of units redeemed per instalment varies even when the withdrawal amount remains constant.
Tax Treatment
Each SWP redemption constitutes a capital gains event. For equity funds, gains on units held under 12 months are taxed as STCG; gains on units held over 12 months are LTCG taxed at 12.5% on gains above ₹1,25,000 per year. For debt funds, gains are added to income and taxed at the applicable slab rate. The FIFO (First In, First Out) principle generally applies when determining which units are being redeemed.
Common Applications
SWPs are frequently used to generate a periodic income stream from a mutual fund corpus — for example, during retirement. They are also used to redeploy a large corpus gradually into other instruments.
Difference from Dividend Option
Unlike the IDCW (dividend) option, where payouts depend on the fund's distributable surplus and are declared at the AMC's discretion, SWP withdrawals are at a fixed amount chosen by the investor regardless of fund performance.
Investors may account for the impact of ongoing withdrawals on the corpus, particularly during periods of declining NAV, as simultaneous market declines and withdrawals can reduce the corpus more rapidly.